BB Curve seeing neighbor's Wi-Fi Connection
 

I am new with BlackBerry. I received my BB Cruve 8320 last Friday and I was playing around with the Wi-Fi Connection and clicked Scan for Networks and a few Wi-Fi Connections showed up around my apartment. I don't have Wi-Fi installed but my surrounding neighbors must have Wi-Fi installed. Some have security lock and some don't and I was able to get Wi-Fi connection and got on the internet (using Opera Mini browser) with the one that have no security lock. While I was on Wi-Fi I noticed there is an uma symbol displaying.
Does my neighbor know that I am using his Wi-Fi connection and can he do a trace to find out who is using it?

Thanks

If your neighbor looks in his router settings he will see your mac address/Device/IP in the list of DHCP clients. Yes, he can see you but only if he looks. I walk my kids to the bus stop and I pick up peoples wifi all the time...The people that setup the router with the "linksys" SSID and put no security on it are the ones. I didn't go looking for it, I just have that profile setup from another wifi location and it just hooked up.

But is it illegal to hook your neighbor's Wi-Fi if it does not have a security key?

illegal? No....Unethical? Maybe.

As long as the user doesn't have low tier DSL connection they'd probably never notice you. I have never seen the BB draw over 512K over my wireless connection, and a UMA voice call consumes about 128K both ways.

Still boarder line unethical as John pointed out.

it's illegal in most states. here's two examples of people caught and prosecuted for it:

Man Arrested For Stealing Wi-Fi, One Of First Criminal Cases Involving Fairly Common Practice - CBS News

Michigan man busted for stealing Wi-Fi signal; could have received five years | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com


most states have laws on the books about "unauthorized use of a computer network". if the network is left open, it is still unauthorized use unless you have the network owner/administrator's expressed consent to use the network. and even if you do have consent, it may still be illegal depending on the ISP's regulations in regard to connection sharing.

How do I fnd out if the State of Colorado have such law?

Thanks

look up their laws online.

and i can guarantee they have a law against unauthorized use of computer networks.

I dont have a WiFi connection at home but someone in my area has one with open access and use it all the time. Probably shouldnt but if they leave it open like that, they cant *itch much.

They sure can. Leaving door of your house unlocked is not an invitation for stranges to enter your house, even if they take nothing: just enter, look around and politely leave.

It's funny how all the articles were from 3 years ago...Open wifi's are so prevalent now it's hard NOT to connect. If you have "linksys" profile already setup from a network you are authorized on, then your computer or BB may very well connect to it without your even doing anything. I'm not saying it's right or wrong...just saying.

Definately I wouldn't hook on to my neighbor Wi-Fi to check my financial accounts online or logon to any website. I will use my neighbor Wi-Fi just to browse the internet.

They better start locking their doors then :)

How noble of you. Bravo.

Rather than take time to decide how you were going to steal your neighbor's bandwidth... you could have gone to your neighbor and kindly informed them that their WiFi network was wide open to the public. You could have even been a GREAT neighbor and offered to help them secure it.

They can get you on theft of services. If they notice you that is

If someone really doesn't like you:

They will put packet sniffer on their open network.
They will get unique MAC address of your device connected to their network.
They will secure court order.
They will force RIM provide PIN number for that MAC address.
They will find, using PIN number, which wireless carrier this blackberry belongs to.
They will force wireless carrier provide billing address of the blackberry owner.

Busted!

If they really don't like you...

precedence.

and 2007 is not 3 years ago.

I talked to the rep last night and I told him that my device is seeing opened security Wi-Fi network around my apartment and he said it is normal and it's OK to use it as long as you don't try to connect to a Wi-Fi network that is locked and required a password. He went on to say that it's hard find out and trace a device ID that is being connected to a Wi-Fi router. The Wi-Fi router's light may be flickering but the user can't really tell if his neighbor is using his Wi-Fi network or not, that is according to the T-Mobile rep.

I also told him that my phone is displaying uma (I noticed a letter "u" next to the number when I checked my account online.) while making a call at home and he said that's is because the device was making a call using my neighbor Wi-Fi network over the internet and it not going to use up my minutes. Again the rep said that my neighbor wouldn't see my calling information on his bill.

Just to make a long story short, the rep told me go ahead and use the neighbor's Wi-Fi network as long as it's opened the the public.

Your rep is naive and wrong.

My opinion, its OK to use it as long as its Open and you dont hack into his system...Not much bandwidth being use with BB anyway.